Dear Editor,
Recently, I promised a councillor that if a certain huge equipment expense by the roads department was permitted, I’d make sure as many taxpayers as possible heard about it. I’m a man of my word, so here we are.
In recent months, one of our graders was diagnosed with a worn out engine. The machine only has 10,000 hours, an unreasonably low number for a John Deere engine to expire, a fact which was only mentioned briefly. Once the machine was assessed, the repair estimate included a transmission replacement, engine overhaul, and replacement of all three hydraulic pumps, a total repair estimate of $189,000.
Let’s start with the idea of so many components involved in one repair. First, a typical John Deere engine runs 15,000 hours or more before problems start. What happened to kill ours at 2/3 the life? Transmissions in these graders typically do give out at 10,000 hours, so that part would have been justified. To replace all three hydraulic pumps at the same time, at this hour reading, is unheard of. So for starters, this lengthy repair list shouldn’t, and likely wasn’t, entirely necessary. Second, equally alarming, was the price tag of $189,000. Assuming the depth of repairs were all needed, I priced the job myself, at slightly over $160,000. Does nobody shop around when this much money is involved?
At the May 15 council meeting, staff presented council with a request to transfer the money from reserves to cover the repairs. After some brief, softball questions from council about other repair or replacement options, the CAO clarified that this wasn’t a request for approval. He had already given approval for the repair, since it was an ’emergency’ with spring gravel coming up. The request was simply to pay for a repair already completed.
This brings up more questions. Why does our CAO have the authority to approve such a large expense before council is even consulted? As far as the ’emergency’ factor, we still had two functional graders. I’ve spread gravel over every Grey county township road, and most of Bruce county. In those days, one grader kept up nicely, although two did a nicer job. Our emergency repair on grader number three was certainly time sensitive and urgent; as soon as the machine returned, it went in a municipal garage for a few days for paint work. Yep, emergency timing all right.
As added aggravation, at least two councillors were made aware of all the lifespan and financial information in the beginning of this letter before the meeting, yet no firm questions were asked. The expense was further justified by mentioning that a new grader was $700,000, although Chatsworth just cancelled an order for an identical machine for slightly over $600,000.
Why do we even have a council? If senior staff can spend six figures without council consultation, based on inaccurate facts, without providing justification (even when council has alternative facts at hand), council has become nothing more than a rubber stamp committee.
Unnecessary money spent based on inaccurate facts has become normal here, with the council often defending staff which should instead be heavily questioned. I hope there are more than just a few of us that are outraged at this frequent foolishness and waste of tax money.
Bill Cameron, Bognor
